Have you ever thought about how much you spend on Coffee every week? IKEA has. And to promote IKEA’s special offers sales we came up with a campaign that reminds people that beautiful Scandinavian design is as affordable as the least expensive things in their daily lives. So we changed the value of furniture and put IKEA’s products right amongst those things. Instead of money, we used coffees, toothpastes, soda cans, stamps, pizza boxes and postcards as a visually striking new currency. A simple change that changed people’s perceptions. And made them see IKEA’s affordability in a whole new way.

IKEA is all about modern and iconic design and, to visually express its affordability, the agency had to find something as iconic. So we did an extensive research of all the ordinary things we buy for little money to remind IKEA’s audience just how little they pay for great Scandinavian design. Cups of coffee, stamps, toothpastes, soda cans, all of those have very distinct shapes and would serve as the perfect canvas for our idea: show that IKEA’s special offers are as affordable as the least expensive things in our everyday lives. So, still being faithful to IKEA’s tone of voice and brand identity, we transformed inexpensive things like coffees, toothpastes, soda cans, stamps, pizza boxes and postcards into a currency. This re-defined IKEA’s special offers’ prices and changed the way people perceive our furniture’s value.

The campaign helped anchor IKEA’s affordability value, without screaming it. That’s what IKEA is: simple and smart. By defining the least expensive things in life as a currency, IKEA changed the way people perceived its offers, making the consumers question their spending. And that showed in the results: sales soared 21,4% compared to the same period last year, making it the most successful special offers promo since the brand’s arrival in Saudi Arabia; traffic on the brand’s online store increased 93,2% and users spent 15min. more than the average browsing time on IKEA’s website. And online sales followed, doubling compared to no special offers months. It was a big deal for IKEA in Saudi Arabia and even bigger one for its customers.